Floods in Germany: laughter at Merkel's potential successor creates controversy
Audio 01:02
Erftstadt, Germany, July 17, 2021. REUTERS - THILO SCHMUELGEN
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
The German Chancellor is expected again with the victims of the floods which killed at least 165 people.
After Rhineland-Palatinate on Sunday July 18, she will visit another affected area this Tuesday, the medieval city of Bad Münstereifel, in North Rhine-Westphalia.
This region is led by the favorite to succeed Angela Merkel after the September elections, Armin Laschet, who made a mistake by being filmed laughing during a tribute to the victims of the floods.
A blunder that continues to make people talk in the affected communities.
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With our special envoys in Erftstadt, south of Cologne,
Anastasia Becchio
and
Boris Vichith
Key to his house in hand, Christian Kuppers comes to the firefighters to ask them to visit his home.
The neighborhood where he lives, partly sucked in by a landslide, is cordoned off.
Only specialized services have access to it, but also some politicians, like the president of the region, Armin Laschet on Saturday.
It is in this commune that the images of the candidate for the chancellery were immortalized, hilarious.
An attitude denounced by Christian Kuppers: “
I believe that if he appeared in front of us, there would be tomatoes and eggs that would fly.
He should resign from all his mandates.
For me, he is no longer credible at all.
"
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To read also:
Floods in Germany: the laughter of the conservative candidate Armin Laschet goes badly
Michael Kautsch is also waiting to see his flooded house again.
He finds extenuating circumstances in Armin Laschet: “
He just laughed for a moment.
Here, I met locals who pour into black humor.
Despite the fact that we no longer have hope for the future, we still have the right to smile for a few seconds or even to laugh.
He's just a human being and I believe he takes the situation very seriously.
"
Armin Laschet will be on the pitch again this Tuesday alongside Angela Merkel.
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Germany
Natural disasters
Angela Merkel